‘Pomelo’s Opposites’ and ‘Is It Big or Is It Little?’

The first few years of childhood seem marked by contrasts: babies are unequivocally small, adults are unquestionably large, and the area in between goes unexplored. But a little later in child development, those stark oppositions give way to more subtle comparisons. “Pomelo’s Opposites” and “Is It Big or Is It Little?,” two stylish new books for the preschool set, play with ideas of difference in ways that are sure to provoke thought and giggles.

Pomelo, a peculiar-looking pink elephant first sighted in “Pomelo Begins to Grow” (a Book Review Editors’ Choice and Notable Book in 2011), found more fans with “Pomelo Explores Color.” And he appears again in “Pomelo’s Opposites,” a book that is the opposite of predictable.

To be sure, you could find some of the oppositions in other books — few/many and open/closed are no surprise, though the illustrations that accompany them are uncommonly appealing. But the spread for black/white — a seemingly obvious pair — opens up a conversation: on one page, the elephant is black against a white ground, and on the next, it’s white against a black ground. So is “white” really accurate to describe the page with the white elephant? Pause for discussion.

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From "Is It Big or Is It Little?"

This is not a book for reading aloud quickly, for flipping through as if the pages were flash cards. Why exactly is a flower, with a falling petal, “fleeting”? And why is the framed painting of that flower “permanent”? Both flowers are in a book — perhaps neither is so fleeting after all. If you start debating these questions with a 3-year-old, who knows where you’ll end up? What’s the toddler translation of “ars longa, vita brevis”?

One of the pleasures of this latest book by the Romanian-born Badescu and Chaud, a Parisian, is that although it is witty and occasionally profound, it doesn’t feel pitched at adults. There’s no elbow-nudging, though there is a flirtation between the bashful pachyderm and a long-lashed frog. Like the best stories, their relationship can be reduced to a few words: see/look at, comfortable/uncomfortable, easy/difficult, question/answer, yes/no.

Chaud’s visual cues convey emotion in humorous shorthand: slight variations in expression, and cheeks that flush from pale pink to peony. “Pomelo’s Opposites” is the kind of book that can be enjoyed, at its simplest level, for its charming drawings and warm colors, but there’s more to be found on repeated readings.

In “Is It Big or Is It Little?,” the Colombian author Claudia Rueda approaches opposites from a different slant. The book has a chic, graphic look: if it were an outfit, you’d be proud to wear it into Hermès. The double-page spreads are colored exclusively in an urbane palette of persimmon, glossy black, cream and putty gray; a cat, dog, mouse and a couple of ants scamper across them, telling a little story about perspective as they go.

The world looks quite different to the perpetually anxious mouse than it does to his pursuer, the prowling cat: a puddle is deep, a ball of wool is big, the yarn is long. But the addition of a bulldog is a game-changer, and in the flip of a page the cat is transformed from scary to scared. Though brief, “Is It Big or Is It Little?” is attractive, funny and filled with exciting action; you may come away from it humming the tune to “The Pink Panther.” Rueda’s resourceful mouse has something in common with that charming cartoon creature.